VietNamNet Bridge - The son of the first radio engineer on the Archipelago of Hoang Sa (Paracel Islands) sent an emotional letter to the National Border Committee, enclosed with artifacts related to his late father.

The son is Ngo The Thinh, a geographer who was born in Bac Ninh, a neighboring province of Hanoi. His late father, Mr. Ngo The Duong, was a radio engineer in the French-ruled period. He was the first to build and manage the radio station in the Hoang Sa Archipelago in 1938.

In a letter to the National Boundary Committee, Mr. Thinh expressed the aspirations of his family to present his father’s documents about his time working on the Hoang Sa Islands, as vivid evidence showing the management of the French government in Vietnam over the archipelago during the French colonial period.

That is also evidence for Vietnam’s non-stop sovereignty, including the French colonial period, over the Hoang Sa Archipelago.

"After my father passed away in 1969, I have preserved these documents and artifacts. Now I would like to give them to the National Border Committee of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. I hope that our family’s memorabilia and ‘living’ documents will be priceless national archive assets," Mr. Thinh writes in his letter.

As the eldest son of Mr. Duong, geographer Thinh taught History and Geography in many secondary schools and universities. "I had the best sense to preserve the documents and memorabilia left by my father," Mr. Thinh writes.

The photo of Mr. Ngo The Duong’s family was displayed in an exhibition of Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa before 1975. Photo by Kien Trung.

Mr. Ngo The Duong was born on February 10, 1910 in Dap Cau Commune of Bac Ninh Province into a family of a poor scholar. Since he was a boy, Duong has been very keen about studying. After 14 years at school, he received a Diploma and a radio engineering degree.

The French government assigned Duong to work in the Indochina Department of Radio. Learning by doing, Duong’s knowledge and skills even exceeded many French experts.

Thinh’s two-page letter writes about his father’s life with words of honor.

The handwritten letter by Mr. Ngo The Thinh to the National Border Committee. Photo by Kien Trung.

The letter says:

“Before the August Revolution, the French only trusted my father, the only Vietnamese technician who installed and controlled radio stations throughout Indochina (Vietnam - Cambodia - Laos).

In 1938 my father went to the Hoang Sa Archipelago to set up a radio station.

In 1939 my father was appointed as head of the radio stations in the capital of Laos (Luong Prabang). My mother and my mum followed him to Laos.

In 1941-1942, my father went to check the radio station in Guangzhou, China, which was called Fort Bayand.

In 1942 - 1943 my father was appointed Deputy radio engineer by the French after receiving excellent passing results, the highest-ranking, in radio in Indochina at that time.

On April 16, 1946, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam issued Decision 11 assigning my father as the acting director of the Vietnam Department of Radio.

In 1946 my father prepared transceivers and radio equipment for Mr. Nguyen Van Tinh (later vice head of the General Department of Post Office); and installed the radio communication system for the Da Lat Conference where the late General Vo Nguyen Giap took part.

Then, in 1946, my father was selected to assemble the radio transceiver for the Fontainebleau conference in France where the late Prime Minister Pham Van Dong and late President Ho Chi Minh were the attendants.

From December 19, 1946, my father was the chief radio engineer and an advisor for late General Vo Nguyen Giap and Hoang Van Thu.

My father died in 1969 at the General Post Office of Vietnam”.

The letter of Mr. Thinh was on display at several exhibitions of Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa.

Mr. Thinh was very careful to note at the end of the letter: “To ensure historical accuracy, the following documents are handwritten and signed”.

The letter of Mr. Thinh was on display at several exhibitions of Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa.

A member of the Council for research and evaluation of historical materials on Hoang Sa and Truong Sa said that after each exhibition held by the Ministry of Information and Communication in provinces and cities throughout the country, the local people provided further evidence and documents to the organizing committee.

"It shows that legal and historical evidence for Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa  is abundant. Besides the national material system, there are many documents and evidence preserved by the people," said Prof. Nguyen Quang Ngoc, the Council’s Chairman.

Earlier, after the exhibition in HCM City, the organizing board received the birth certificate of a Vietnamese citizen born on the Hoang Sa Archipelago during the French colonial period, provided by the people.

This birth certificate was also on display in the exhibitions of historical and legal materials of Vietnam’s sovereignty over the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa.

Kien Trung